Opening an account is simple. There are four steps to complete in order to open an account and become ready to invest.
Let’s get started!
Before starting, make sure you are using a computer with a camera or a phone and you have your tax identification number, an ID and a proof of address ready if needed.
Step 1: Sign up and provide your personal details
In the sign up page, you will be prompted to enter your email address, set a password, and sign the membership agreement. The membership agreement sets out the terms of the relationship between Seedrs and you as a user of our service - please make sure to carefully read them before moving forward. After completing this and verifying your email address you will be asked to provide your full name - just like it is displayed in your identity documents - and date of birth.
You may notice that there is a 'I am registering an institution' link right below the 'Continue' button. That link is for businesses that would like to sign up as an institutional investor on our platform. We have a guide for that as well: 'Create your Institutional investor account'.
Next, you'll be asked to insert your country of residence. Depending on where you are based, you will be asked to provide your postcode and/or your full address.
You will then be met with the tax residency information screen, where, depending on your location, we will ask you for your tax residency and tax identification number (TIN), if applicable.
All the details that you provide in the pages above are essential to facilitate your access to investment opportunities on our platform, so please make sure to include up to date and accurate information.
Step 2: Risk Warning and appropriateness test
Before selecting your investor profile, you will be prompted to confirm your acknowledgement of the risks of investing in early-stage businesses. This will be achieved by completing a quiz about the risks of investing and we strongly recommend reading our detailed rundown of the risks of investing in our Risk Warnings page before starting the quiz, as we require all questions to be answered correctly in order to progress to the next steps.
Warning: if you fail the quiz twice, you will be locked from any further attempts for 24 hours. A timer will start and once it ends you will be allowed to try again.
Step 3: Select your investor profile to become authorised to invest
Once the quiz is complete, you need to ‘self certify’ as a particular profile of investor. This means you'll simply need to select one of the three profiles that you are presented with that most aligns with your personal experience of investing. As an FCA authorised firm, with high risk investments, we are required to ensure that all of our investors are categorised appropriately. The three investor profiles are as follows:
Everyday investor
As an everyday investor, you should invest less than 10% of your net assets each year in: shares, bonds, funds or other securities that are not listed on an exchange
Sophisticated investor
You have invested in more than one unlisted company or you have been a director of a company with annual turnover of at least £1 million or you have been a member of a business angels network for at least the last six months.
High net worth investor
You earn more than £100,000 per year, or hold net assets of at least £250,000.
The questions in this section will vary depending on the profile you select. If you’re not sure which one is most relevant to you, you can choose to take a quick questionnaire to guide you through choosing the most appropriate profile. It will ask you five questions and based on the answers will then present you with a result.
Step 4: Verify your identity
You will now have the choice to verify your identity to complete your account opening and enable the ability to invest in campaigns, or exit the journey for now. If you exit, you will be able to view the full details of campaigns, but not invest.
If you choose to verify your identity to complete the journey then you will have the chance to double-check your information, before submitting. If we’re able to verify your identity automatically then, congratulations! You now have a verified account on Seedrs and you’re able to start investing in campaigns.
If our provider was unable to verify your identity with their automatic-checks then you’ll need to upload a photo (PNG or JPG) of your ID and complete a liveness check. You may then be asked to also upload a proof of address.
Once you've submitted the required documents, our team will just need to verify your identity. This shouldn't take too long. We'll send you an email to let you know once it's complete so you can start investing in campaigns.